It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again.

​Offices Closed for Memorial Day: All county offices will be closed on Monday, May 28, for the holiday. This includes parks offices, public works, courts and all other administrative offices. Offices will re-open Tuesday, May 29.

This Dog's Tale

Dora’s lost-and-found story is undeniably heart-warming. And a good reminder on how to increase the odds of getting a lost pet back home.

Frightened by fireworks going off in her neighborhood last July 4th, she jumped her family’s fence in Frisco in a panic. Seven months later, a determined animal control officer in McKinney trapped a very wary German Shepherd mix near Highway 380 and Highway 5 after unsuccessfully trying to coax her into his truck for two weeks.

When animal control brought the dog to the
county’s animal shelter in early February, one of the first checks on the dog’s identify was to scan for a microchip. Dora was quickly identified, and her owners contacted to come get her.

Dora and Kery OBryan reunite in early February at the Animal Shelter, 7 months after the Shepherd mix was lost.

It didn’t’ take long for Kery O’Bryan to drive over and reacquaint himself with Dora. At first, the dog was scared and cautious when she was led out of the kennels and Kery let her take her time to jog her memory. It seemed as if Dora suspected it was too good to be true after being on her own for so long. Within a minute, though, it all registered with her. Her tale started wagging, and her face changed from cautious to relieved to joy.

He had searched high and low for Dora for month after she ran off, posted pictures of her online, but it turned up nothing on the family pet.

Kery told our volunteers that he’d he never given up on finding his dog. At one point during those months, animal control called him and said they had found her hit by a car. He insisted they scan the dog for a microchip because, as he said, Dora was too smart to get hit. He was right; it wasn't Dora.

So it’s no coincidence that we use Dora’s tale to demonstrate just how important it is to microchip your family pet. They work.

Placing a microchip in your pet can easily be done by your veterinarian and the data is registered with the chip‘s manufacturer and put into a database. Costs can vary from $15 to $50. The
Texas Coalition for Animal Protection​, who conduct periodic low-cost vaccination and spay-neuter clinics at our Animal Shelter , discount chip placement when spaying and neutering is done,
from $30 down to $20 for the
Home Again Microchip.

Regardless of what chip you choose or who you choose to implant it, make sure to keep your contact information up-to-date on the manufacturer’s database so that, in the event your pet gets loose, you can be found, too.